Editorial contacts

Ask a question

Get support

Story idea?

Everything else

LONG BLOG

I know, I know. I haven't written a c-blog seriously for awhile now but that's because I haven't had anything to write about. Though today i'm going to be writing about preorders and mostly the pros of them. You're probably guessing a major reason why I'm writing this is because of Aliens: Colonial Marines but since every forum I go on for the most part has had people complaining about preorders now due to what happened, I just need to vent about some of the stuff that is on my mind and get people to see my perspective on everything.

Now that comment above really irritated the hell outa me because this person the Steam forums says that he won't preorder games and never will because of the fact that there is many games which don't live up to the expectations and therefore feels his need to wait until release. Not that I have anything against that but my main irritation is how he thinks preorders are here to bite you in the ass and then cause you to regret your purchase. It's not, obviously, but let me get to the point.

The point is that preorders are actually rather beneficial despite some of the negative ways they have been used and swindled money out of the consumers. The main point is that it is used by the publishers to determine how many people are buying said game and telling if said franchise has big enough of a market to get a wide audience to earn a profit. There's nothing wrong with figuring out how many people are interested in your game. Borderlands 2 broke preorder records for 2K and 2K really relied on those preorder numbers as it really helped to make sure they kept up with demand prior to launch.

The second point is that NOT ALL PREORDERS ARE BAD. It's true. Most preorders are not bad at all and actually are well worth it if the developer is respectable and has produced a great many games and not a single failed game. The new assumption now since A:CM is that every game is now out to steal your money and under deliver. The fact is that this is not true at all. Gearbox is known to under deliver especially with what happened with Duke Nukem Forever and how they typically outsource a lot of their work because they don't have the numbers to do stuff like produce DLC or something along those lines.

Consumers should always look at the development past of a game studio and look to see what games they have produced. This goes well for older franchises because if it is an already established franchise then you should have no worries because of the quality expectations of what you should expect the developer to reach as per the fact they're more than likely to expand on most mechanics and introduce new ideas in the process. You should always know that history prior to preorder as well as if t is an established franchise.

Aliens: Colonial Marines, while a new IP, created by Gearbox which has a questionable past definitely had it coming there way. So by saying that Metro: Last Light, Tomb Raider, Bioshock: Infinite, and a list of other games coming out this month or a few months from now shouldn't offer preorders because of what happened is just bullshit. Preorders aren't as bad as they seem despite a few bad eggs but you have to understand that it has some valid reason for existing. Some preorders obviously offer stuff they'll sell later, and others are just there for those who want a little bit of a head start, and whilst it may seem like it's bad but it's really not.

I feel as thought preorders are really beneficial to any game surviving. This goes especially for the PC indie scene because of how much developers need the money to keep production going and understand how much of an audience their game has. AAA devs might not need that as much but it's beneficial. The game industry needs it even if you think it is suddenly the devil and will no way in any shape or form actually help it keep afloat. Just remember that while A:CM is a pile of shit, there's tons of other games that are in no way, shape, or form going to be just as bad. So stop treating preorders like they're the devil and go find another scrapegoat. Like microtransactions. That's much MUCH worse if you're thinking about the nickle and diming of the consumer.

Sorry for literally no pictures in this blog. That one comment just irritated the hell outa me.

LOOK WHO CAME:

Three day old threads are only visible to verified humans - this helps our small community management team stay on top of spam

Sorry for the extra step!

About CarbonRevengeone of us since 8:06 PM on 09.16.2012

I'm am a dedicated PC gamer who believes that everyone deserves to hear the facts. I have beta tested multiple games in the past and have been known to outright tell developers what needs to be done to make it tolerable of a game. That's why it's beta right?

Nonetheless, gaming has been a hobby for me since I was a wee little lad. My favorite console of all time would be the SNES(even if I only ever played it a few times) with the N64 following that then the Gamecube. Nothing will ever compare to those consoles. Ever.

You know enough. The personals can be found out if you get to know me.